Leona's Sunday # 1
Leona's Sunday # 1
After we finished our drinks at the cafe.
"Whew. We've got this whole place to ourselves."
We all came into the school training ground together. Usually, I'd use it alone with Si-hoo or alone with Yu-ri, but today it's a full four-person party.
—Beep.
Yu-ri worked the kiosk and the floor opened up, raising the ring.
"Alright, so. Today, Kim Geun-cheol, I'll look over your swordsmanship for a bit. After that, we'll just run sparring matches nonstop for training. Kim Geun-cheol? Over here."
"Kay."
"You little shit, I told you to stop saying 'kay.'"
"Do you, Woo Yu-ri, have that right? Do you have the 'right' to tell me what not to say?"
"Teacher. Big Sis. Huh? Ring any bells?"
"Yes, ma'am."
When I bowed my head and answered, Yu-ri finally seemed satisfied and went "Heh heh." She picked up a training sword and stepped onto the ring.
"It's the first time I've seen Geun-cheol learn from Yu-ri like this. Well then. I'm curious to see how you teach, so give it your absolute best."
"Leona. You don't even have to say that, I'm someone who always gives it his all, you know."
"I know that, fufufu."
In that case, with Leona watching, let's really go all out.
"Geun-cheol! Watch out you don't get pummeled!"
"Got it! Yu-ri! For Si-hoo's sake at least, go a little easy!"
"Wanna die?"
"Anyway, come at me!"
—Fwoosh!
Yu-ri immediately kicked off the ground and charged at me. Not at full power, of course. She adjusted to my level. I kept my eyes on Yu-ri as she came, then stepped to evade the rush.
"Hup!"
I thrust my sword straight at Yu-ri's back!
"Too slow."
But Yu-ri instantly used a stamping step, spun her body around, and blocked my blade. A truly fluid motion. I admired it for only a second. Naturally, I don't hold back either. The moment I kicked out to respond—
—Tsupat!
A mana blade suddenly manifested right next to my head!
"What the— hey! What is this!"
"You said during class earlier you wanted to try this."
—Thwack!
"Gahak!"
The mana sword whacked me right in the side of the head! Unable to withstand the shock, I toppled to the floor...!
"No— Yu-ri! What the hell is this! What do you mean it's inefficient! It's total bullshit hacking!"
"It's because this is a one-on-one spar. Anyway, I told you during a fight, your opponent might pull out all sorts of weird tricks, so always stay alert, right?"
"Ah... yeah, I will."
Still, I didn't expect her to use the mana blade we just talked about today right away.
"But Yu-ri. What you just did, is it any good?"
"If you wanted, you could use it in actual combat. It's just that you'd be better off using a submachine gun."
"But you have to hold a submachine gun with your hands."
"You have to focus like a motherfucker to make a mana blade too, you know? Wouldn't it be easier to just lift a gun and pop-pop-pop?"
"I guess."
We talked like that as I climbed down from the ring. You lose, and it's the next batter's turn.
"I watched closely, Geun-cheol. Your opening intensity wasn't bad. And the way you evaded that rush."
"Right?"
"Still, getting nailed by the mana blade is a minus."
Gahak.
"Leona? You wanna go up next?"
"Sounds good. Let's have a bout."
"Heh heh heh. I'm looking forward to this. I've really been wanting to go all out against you in the ring."
"But do you know what?"
"What?"
"Since this is practice, I won't be going all out. I don't want my moves read if I fight at full power."
"Hey. Same goes for me."
That's some total master-level dialogue right there.
"Isn't that some real master-level talk? Si-hoo."
"It's only right to hide some of your ability during practice, Geun-cheol. You can't let your tricks get figured out when it's time for the Final Ranking Battle, right?"
"This guy's a master too."
I drank an ion beverage with Si-hoo, who was seated next to me.
—Pabang!
We spectated the spar between Leona and Yu-ri.
"Hahp!"
"Hup!"
The two women flung their bodies around at high speed, exchanging fierce cuts. Their hair was whipping around, but it didn't look like a hindrance at all.
"Whoa."
That thing Yu-ri is doing right now. It's a totally different feel from when she coaches my swordsmanship. To think she can use this much power in a one-on-one.
"Feels a bit different from when we were hunting Antillery last time."
"Killing a bunch of monsterkin in a confined space versus fighting another superhuman one-on-one in the ring are different. The whole way you fight changes."
"Just as I thought."
"What do you mean, just as you thought? It's obvious. Geun-cheol. This is common sense, common sense."
"I know that too, damn it!"
—Kukung!
"Phew. That was enjoyable. Woo Yu-ri."
"Yeah. Me too. You really can fight, I'll give you that. So is this the European style? Huh?"
"This is indeed the European style. But Woo Yu-ri, your swordsmanship looks like it would work in Europe, too."
—Swish.
Leona swished her hair once and stepped down from the ring.
"So who won?"
"A draw. We deliberately ended it in a draw."
"Ohhh!"
"Hey! Then Lee Si-hoo! Get up here!"
"Got it."
The next batter was Si-hoo. Si-hoo and Yu-ri had another fierce spar, and then next, Yu-ri stepped down. Her opponent naturally became Leona.
That's how the three masters kept rotating through, running spar after spar. I just sat there twiddling my thumbs and watching.
"Hmm."
Still, watching all that, my hands and my heart were itching. Felt like I was picking things up, somehow.
Watching other people fight is part of your training too.
"Hey, let's call it here for today. Geun-cheol? I couldn't coach you much, but you learned something from watching the spars, right?"
"Yeah. I've been watching the whole time and organizing it in my head."
"Good job. Just keep doing that. Whew. I'm gonna head in and rest for today."
"Let's do that."
We walked right out of the training ground.
"Ah, so now it's time to cook, right? For Geun-cheol and Si-hoo?"
"Yeah. Gonna go make some dinner, eat, and sleep."
"Fufufu, how wholesome. Make it well and eat up. Si-hoo. Even if he says no, you stuff those vegetables into Geun-cheol's mouth for him."
"Leave it to me."
"What is this, seriously!"
This woman's got a ghost haunting her that died from not being able to feed anyone vegetables...!
"I'd really love to come over sometime. Anyway, see you tomorrow. You little shit, Geun-cheol, make sure to eat your vegetables properly, just like Mama Leona said."
"Who's 'Mama'?!"
We said our goodbyes and parted ways like that.
Of course, Si-hoo was sticking right by my side.
"Geun-cheol. Today's sparring was fun. Right?"
"Yeah. Even though I only watched, it was seriously productive."
"Watch well and learn. No, wait, but when are we going to the PC café...!"
"Sorry!"
First, let's figure out the dinner menu!
* * *
"Hey! Si-hoo! Today it's gyudon! Gyudon!"
Geun-cheol is slicing meat while shaking his hips all bouncy-like. Just watching him throw an absolute fit of joy over having a meat-and-rice bowl makes a laugh rise up in spite of myself.
"..."
At the same time, Lee Si-hoo felt a sense of conflict.
Lately, Geun-cheol has been rapidly getting closer not just to Leona but to Yu-ri as well. Weekend plans are a given... his schedule is totally packed.
Does this mean our friendship is now completely the odd one out?
But if you look at it that way, isn't it the same for Leona and Yu-ri? They're friends too, aren't they. And yet, Geun-cheol's priority seemed to be his female friends over his male friend.
'But I'm a girl...!'
A complaint like that welled up for no good reason.
"Fuck yeah! Bouncy, bouncy! Delicious gyudon! Gyudon packed with a shitton of meat!"
But looking at Geun-cheol, who is insanely overjoyed, all I can do is laugh. Anyway, let's just cook together for now. These moments are too much fun.
"Geun-cheol. So, seems like we need onions, mushrooms, and carrots? And it says we need tsuyu and chopped green onion, too. Tsuyu is Japanese-style soy sauce, I guess."
"Hey, we're Korean, ain't we? Use Korean soy sauce. And mushrooms, fuck, what mushrooms? Just toss 'em and add more meat. As for the green onion, we can substitute a regular green onion. What matters is following the recipe, right?"
"I think we've strayed pretty far from the recipe..."
"How is this straying?!"
Seriously, nothing fazes him.
"Heuheut. You strayed from all of it."
"Yeah. Don't bullshit me. I haven't strayed a bit."
A laugh just comes out.
* * *
As daily life went on, the weekend came around quickly. On Saturday, I did volunteer work with Leona, grabbed a meal, trained, and called it a day.
Today is finally Sunday.
"But two days of volunteering back to back. Leona. Isn't that a bit much?"
"I-It is, isn't it. Still, Geun-cheol? This is important, you know."
"Heuheuheu, of course it's important. The path to becoming a Volunteer Monsterkin is."
"Are you going to keep saying stuff like Volunteer Monsterkin?"
I never imagined I'd end up volunteering on a Sunday too, but whatever, I have to hit 100 hours. So I headed out early in the morning, got in a car with Leona, and moved out.
And then we arrived at the usual orphanage and were about to get to work when—
"What? Just doing this much and we're done today?"
They said there wasn't much to help with at the orphanage today, just moving a few pieces of luggage. Damn, if that was all, there was barely any point in coming.
"Ack! It's my mistake! I had no idea there'd be no work today...!"
Leona shook her fist as if she'd made a huge blunder.
"What do we do! I'm sorry!"
"Ah, c'mon, no need to apologize for something like this. It happens. So. We just need to move these things?"
"That's what they say. Regrettably, we're finished once it's done."
"Can't be helped. But hey, if we weren't volunteering, I'd have just slept in, so this is probably better."
"Really?"
I moved the luggage with Leona right away. About 30 minutes passed by the time we'd moved everything there was. Leona immediately went to get her volunteer time stamped.
"Even so, they're giving us credit for a full hour."
"Isn't that just 'cause it's you, Leona?"
"Fufufu, perhaps."
But we had a ton of time left.
We'd come planning to volunteer all morning, and it's now 9:30. Way too much time left over.
"Umm, Geun-cheol? We've got quite a bit of time left, right?"
Leona, standing beside me, said as she rubbed her lips.
"Huh? Ah, hey! Leona!"
"Yes?"
"Leona, don't tell me you're about to say 'let's go eat jjamppong again,' or something like that!"
"And if I am?"
"I will seriously throw an absolute crying-and-screaming shitfit right here!"
The current me can do it! Whatever it takes, even if I have to go into a full-on berserk tantrum, I will absolutely block it! That future!
"Hmph! Just try it! I'll pretend I don't even know you!"
Leona folded her arms and shouted like a parent going "I don't know this person" to a kid crying for a toy in a mart!
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
"Ahh, you're yelling again! Be quiet! It was a joke!"
"Extreme relief."
"What do you mean 'extreme relief,' you goof. Then today... hmm, okay. Let's do something else."
What?
"Something else?"
"Yes. First, let's go get some food. I called you out here by mistake this morning, so it's my treat."
"Well then, thank you very much!"
"Let's hurry and go, Geun-cheol."
That's how I went off to eat with Leona.
Looking forward to what we're gonna eat.
